THE DIGITAL REPOSITORY FOR THE BLACK EXPERIENCE
"If You Can't Be Who You Need To Be, By Remaining Who You Are."
Internal medicine physician Dr. Hollis Jonetta Crowe Underwood was born on October 29, 1957 in Chicago, Illinois to Robert Arthur and Janetta Martha Crowe. Underwood graduated from Cass Technical High School in Detroit, Michigan in 1975. She attended the University of Maryland as a zoology major. Underwood then completed her M.D. degree at Howard University School of Medicine and did her post graduate residency training at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota.
In 1987, Underwood worked in the National Health Service Corps at Frederiksted Health Center in St. Croix, Virgin Islands. While there, Underwood co-chaired the 1989 Peer Review Committee at the Virgin Islands Medical Institute in Christiansted, Virgin Islands. Underwood then began working as the Medical Director and Acting Project Director for Frederiksted Health Center and as the District Health Officer at the Charles Harwood Memorial Hospital in Christiansted until 1990.
In 1990, Underwood was hired as the Lead Internist and Director of Hypertension & Lipid Clinic at the Ohio Permanente Medical Group in Parma, Ohio, before working as an intermediate Lipid Specialist for the American Heart Association at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1994, Underwood became a consultant for the Department of Community Internal Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, where she worked until 2000.
In 1997, Underwood acted as a consultant on a sixteen member multi-disciplinary medical team that traveled to Dakar, Senegal to provide cardiovascular medical care for the community. The venture, Project MEDHELP, led by Albert F. Olivier, consisted of cardiothoracic and general surgeons, anesthesiologists, cardiologists, internists, public health experts, dermatologists and gynecologists.
In February 2000, Underwood became President of Sonoran Health Specialists, Inc., working alongside her husband Dr. Paul L. Underwood, Jr., in Scottsdale, Arizona. Underwood served on several boards and organizations including the Center for Women’s Health, Vibetree Foundation and Planned Parenthood. She is also active in several organizations including the Links, Inc., the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Jack and Jill of America, Inc.
Dr. Hollis Jonetta Crowe Underwood resides in Phoenix, Arizona with her family.
Dr. Hollis Jonetta Crowe Underwood was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on July 14, 2007.